University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Western Kentucky
Ragin' Cajuns at Western Kentucky
1/13/2007 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BOWLING GREEN, KY- Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns lost on Saturday evening at Western Kentucky by a final score of 82-72.
WKU (14-5, 6-1) made 14 free throws in the final 2:17, while UL (4-14, 2-6) managed four from the stripe in the entire second half on 15 attempts (26.7 percent).
Both teams combined to make 6-of-32 three-point attempts, with the Cajuns converting 4-of-20.
Tyrone Brazelton scored 20 second half points to lead the Hilltoppers comeback.
WKU opened the second half with a 13-7 jaunt to tie the game at 40-40 at 16:02.
Tied at 44-44, Jeremy Evans dunk gave the Hilltoppers their first lead since an 8-6 edge in the first half and sent the E.A. Diddle Arena crowd of 5,389 into a frenzy.
Orlando Mendez-Valdez hit a driving lay-up to give the hosts their largest lead up to this point, 48-44, with 12:50 remaining.
The Cajuns came back to tie the game at 50-50 with a lay-in by Elijah Millsap and a David Dees' dunk.
WKU then scored seven unanswered points to spike their lead.
The Cajuns had their chances to get back into the game, but missed eight consecutive free throws. Coincidently, UL trailed by eight points, 66-58, with 3:26 on the clock.
It didn't help matters that the hosts were connecting at a 68 percent clip from the floor in the second half.
Dees snapped the Cajuns funk from the free throw line with 1-of-2, but the Cajuns deficit slid to nine points, 72-63 with only 76 seconds remaining.
WKU finished off the game at the stripe.
Millsap led the Cajuns with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Dees added 16 points and Mouton contributed 14 points.
Brazelton led all scorers with 22 points. Four ?Toppers finished in double figures, including Evans with a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Neither team could muster more than a two-point lead in the first half until Mouton converted a three-point play at the 11:02 mark to put the Cajuns in front 15-10. After a WKU basket, Mouton and Millsap each connected on driving lay-ups and Dees hit a pair of free throws to extend the Cajuns lead to 21-12 at the 8:48 mark.
The Cajuns lead hit 10 points, 25-15, thanks to a pair of baskets in the paint by Willie Lago, but WKU came back with a 7-0 run to trim the Cajuns lead to three points, 25-22, with 2:57 left.
A Mouton triple stopped the Cajuns scoring drought and gave UL a six point lead. Lago's lay-up with 0.2 seconds remaining kept the Cajuns lead at six heading into the break.
The Cajuns return home to face South Alabama on Tuesday at 7pm at the Cajundome.
